Cumnock P4 v Ayr

Cumnock Cougar’s welcomed local rivals Ayr to Broomfield on a beautiful sunny remembrance day morning.
It’s always going to be a tough game against our larger neighbours and today was to be no exception at P4’s. With our visitors bringing a fantastic healthy squad of 16 players to Broomfield, splitting into two teams of 6 with subs against our single team with no subs, the club house lunch was going to have to be well earned today by the Cougars.
A banquet would have befitted the mighty P4’s in the club house as well earned their lunch was, our first game they just came out all guns blazing. After losing the toss and taking the first phase in defence, it was clear our Cougars meant business today, especially in the breakdown with some fantastic strength in the ruck whether clearing out in counter rucking moves to steal possession or fighting hard to retain possession, their technique, physicality and strength was simply awesome. With a solid platform at the breakdown to rely upon, may of our recent running drills, attacking space, support runners and quick ball in off loads and pop passes, it was wave after wave of black and red offence today. It’s clear our boys are really growing in confidence with great commitment by all at the tackle and ruck, as such the team are really starting to gel as a unit and playing to their strengths. On speaking with our visitors coaches, it was evident the Cougars were perhaps the most competitive rucking side they had encountered this season so maybe took a while to figure out how to deal with this, after 2 x 10 min halves, it was Cougars 14 - Ayr 2 with tries from Lachlan (5), Ben (6), Aron, Dylan & Jack R. A special shout out to Jack D for both games, whilst not on the score sheet today, his tackle count was immense, absolutely fearless and a true testament that technique, skill and commitment kept Ayr at bay.
As we would have expected, game 2 would like be a tougher affair, perhaps being “softened up” in preparation for a stronger team in the 2nd match but equally, with 20 mins of non stop rugby and no subs in the legs, they were going to have to dig deep. Deep they dug, with an enthralling end-to-end game of rugby, the scoreline was never separated by any more than 2 tries. It was again the strength in the breakdown that would ultimately be the narrowest of margins for the Cougars to return a further 2 x 10 mins halves as victors, the game being separated by only a single point at 9 - 8. Tries from Lachlan (3), Ben (3), Dylan (2) and Aron.
Coaches were simply enthralled and immensely proud of the boys today, they were up against a very good team with numbers and had to dig deep, remain focused and put into practice lots of learning from the training field and boy did they just shine, an absolute joy to watch today and fantastic testament to the state of rugby in Ayrshire with 22 P4’s putting on a superb show for all to see.
Next week we’re away to West of Scotland and again will encounter our Ayrshire neighbours at this fixture, both very good teams and I’m sure Ayr will come out the blocks and provide another cracking morning of rugby.